Quick-acting bench vise



J. A. FOLLMER ETAL 2,550,547

" QUICK-ACTING BENCH VISE April 24, 1951 f Filed Dec. 30 1949 1' it? Nmu Fig.|

W m H n lll Fig. 7

INVENTORS JOSEPH A. FOLLMER QOSEPH FOLLMER 'anm w Patented Apr. 24, 1951S omcs QUIQK-AQTING BENCHKVISEJ Jqs i h A Fol'lmer ndl-lo nh. o lm r vDenver, Colo.

,ApplicationDecember so, 1949, Serial: No. 1;3,6-,04.81: 4 claims. ((31.mag-sorry This 'invent" onrelates to woodworkers quick; acti gbenchvises anclimore particularlyTtoimprdvefnents in-- vises of thegeneral type disclosed i'iiftheipatent to Joseph A; Follmer et al. No.2,437,351, granted March 9, 1948.

' Oneloflthe obje c'ts of. the present inventionis ta es-vise a vise ofthe foregoingtypein which the vable jaw of thevise maybe positioned agast the, worlc piece and tightened there- 'afgainstwithonly afraction of.a turn of the vise screw.- I

' Another object is to provide a vise in whichthe slideable jaw is.onei-way-acting; that is, freely slid e'ablel upon. rotation; of thevise screw. in one direetien 'andengageable with the, worl; piece uponrotation oftl'iescrew in the other direction,

' Another objee't is to provideth'evise with miter edges fgi; engaginthe work for, quickly posiftioning the same atfa 45 angle. to thehorizontal.

' V 'Another object is to provide the vise with fimproved means forsecuringit toa workbenel'i A'further objectis to provide a visa with animprovedbench stop.

' Still further objects, advantages and. salient features will becomemore apparent from a (3011-.

s'ider ation offthe description to follow, the ap pended-claims, and theaccompanying drawing, flw ichz' '3 i V *Figure l is a top plan of thevise l fig ure'fz is a side elevation;

Figure ,3 sa section taken on line 3-3, Figure 2.: M

*Fig'ure 4 is a section taken on line 4-4, Fig: ure 1;

- Figure 5 is an enlargedsection taken on line 5-5, Figured;

t Figure 6-is a -section takenon line ti -ii, Figore-5;

Figure 7'is an enlarged section, similar to Figure 5,1'showingcertainparts in another operative positionp I Figure 8 is a sectionsimilarto Figure 6 showing certain-"parts in; another operativeposition;

Fig-ure 9-is-a side elevation of a bench or vise, stop employed withanyof-the f gures and.

Figure l-is-'a section similar to FiguresSand '7; showing an alternativeform' of the invention, portions -being broken away.

Referring -indetailto the drawing, andparticularly- Figures 1 to-9, theviSe comprises, in generaL: an elongated frame. or body l ii-having ajawel l1. slideably mounted-thereon; actuated by ascrew- 12whichithreadedly engages a plurality of nutsfl 3 l 3.0L releasablyengagingthe body.

Body lflrisconstructed. Qasan elongated-member 2 having a. laterally;projecting flange 14 at one endthereof and a similanbut somewhat longer,flange. l5;at its other end. One face oftlie memher. is provided withgrooves [6, 16a, as best shown in Figure 3, which form rectilinear guidemeansfor the movable jaw. 'Atthe-end adjacent flangeIE a lug IT projectsfrom one side of the member [0 which is providedwith anunthreadedcircular bore for slideably and rotatably receiving ev vise screwtherein. The upper edge; of mem tr- H] is providedwitha 45- bevel i8 anda similar. bevel lain th'e same;plane;thereo f-, is provided on theupperedge of the guide means, for apurpose to be hereinafter described.

Insecuring. the. V-iSer body to a conventional bench 23 a bar of wood2|, having rectangular benchstop openingsiZ-therein, is secured to theedge of the bench anda recess'23 is cut in the bench top to receive thevise body in a manner such that the outside face of the bar and theoutside face of the slideable jaw are in the same plane. A slot 24'. iscut to .-receive flange I4, and flange! 5 abutsw oneend of the bench.Screws 25 extend through body [0 and intothe bench and screws 25similarly extend through flange I5 into the bench. It will be observedthat flange 14, disposed in slot 24, precludes any tendency for the visebody to move longitudinally of the bench when theivise is tightened andhence no substantial shear ietaken by SCTeWS'25 l3h6Se, and screws 26,serving to resist any transverse forcesacting between the vise body andbench.

The slideable jaw H is provided with guide 7 means 21, 21awhichmatefwith andv slide in grooves l6, 16a respectively, of the visebody: member. A boss 2B,,isdisposed on the jaw. which is provided withacircular blind hole 29 having an abutment surface 30at its inner end.

The vise'screw i2 is provided with a groove 3| near one end thereof intowhich the end of a screw 32 projects to prevent separation ofthe. jawand screw. It will be observed that the entire endof the screw abutssurface 39, thus ,providing relatively large abutment surfaceswhichreduce any tendency of 'the end of the screw to' swage as a result ofuseyor excessive pressures on the abutment surf aces. screw has affixedthereto a T fitting 33 which slideably receives a vise handle 34.

The quick'acting jaw actuating means, which I fac s}; thereom and a pairofgthreaded"nuts, l3,.

The other end of the I 13a, each having an upper notch engaging ear 3!and a lower flat surface engaging ear 38 thereon. The threadedengagement of the nuts on the screw provides sufiicient friction suchthat rotation of the screw will carry the nuts -with them until resistedfrom further movement by abutment of lower ears 38 with fiat surface 36,or by abutment of an upper ear 31 within a notch or against the bodymember between notches. In the embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 9 thepitch of the notches is twice the lead of the screw, the latter beingdouble threaded.

Assuming that the vise is wide open with ears 38 in engagement withsurface 36, a work piece may be inserted between jaw H and the end ofbar 2|, which forms a fixed jaw, and the .jaw ll slid into engagementtherewith byapplication of force to the outer end of the screw.

When the movable jaw. abuts the workpiece the handle is then rotated,which rotates the nuts to a position adjacent the notches. If one ofears 3'! happens to align with a slot, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, forexample; it will enter it and upon further rotation of the screw suchear prevents movement of the nut and the work piece may then betightened between the jaws. If neither of cars 31 happens to be alignedwith a slot, a partial rotation of'the screw will move the nuts untilone of the ears is rotated into a slot. In the construction shown inFigures il to 9 the pitch of the slots is twice the lead of the screw,and the slots and ears are so proportioned that one of the latter willenter one of the former in not to exceed one revolution of the screwafter the movable jaw has engaged the work piece.

Iii Figure 10 is shown a manner in which the vise may be rendered stillmore quick acting. In this construction one or more plates 39 havingcars 31, 38 thereon are interposed between the nuts, these being eitherthreaded or unthreaded and mounted on the screw. With this constructionan ear 3'! will usually be in a position to enter a slot, but in anyevent, a lesser amount of rotation of the screw will be required toalign one of the ears with a slot. Two plates have been illustrated, butit will be apparent that any number may be employed and'that as thenumber is increased the sensitivity of the vise will be increased. thenumber of ears 3? present, the lesser will be the maximum amount ofscrew rotation to eiTect locking of the nut mechanism to body it.

In the construction just described, the ears may be omitted from nut 13,if desired, nut 13a may be unthreaded, but secured to nut [3 by anysuitable bridging or spacing means, and the locking of the nut mechanismeffected by engagement of one of the ears on plates 3Q with abutments35a, rather than by such ears on the nuts. V

The slideable jaw is providedwith a square or rectangular hole astherethrough, similar to openings 22, for receiving a bench stop 4 whichcomprises a square or rectangular bar having a lower tapered end towhich'is secured a flat spring 32 by means of a rivet 33, or the like,

The spring engages one wall of the hole and retains the stop at adesired position of adjustment above the movable vise jaw. When not inuse, it is depressed into the movable jaw so that its top surface isflush with the top of the aw. 1

The novel nut mechanism is an important feature of the invention, andwhile a double In other words, the larger i the side of the guide -7 4threaded screw has been mentioned, it is ap-' parent that the screw maybe made with a single thread or any-number of multiple threads. The nutmechanism may also be modified to render it as sensitive as desired sothat only a small angle of rotation of the screw is necessary to engagea locking ear 3! with an abutment 35a, this, by merely increasing thenumber of cars available to be rotated into a slot, It will be notedthat the upper and lower ears of the plates 39 are disposed so that theysubstantially balance the plates on the screw and hence only a veryslight amount of friction, on the screw, is required to rotate one ofthem into a slot. They may be threaded, if desired, but unthreadedplates have sufficient friction on the outside of screw threads toeffect the requisite rotation.

In our prior identified patent the slideable jaw is double acting; thatis, it may be made to move under control of the screw in eitherdirection of rotation. While a position of release is possible in saidpatent, wherein the nut may be released and the jaw slid to a desiredposition, it is necessary tomore carefully position the nut by reverserotation of the screw; otherwise it will reengage a second set ofnotches and prevent the nut from being moved rectilinearly with thescrew. In the present invention a; predetermined reverse movement of thescrew releases the nut mechanism and, regardless of further reverserotation, cars 38 merely abut fiat surface 36 and slide therealong.

In Figure 3 the use of the beveled edges is shown wherein a face of workpiece 44 is disposed on the 45 bevels l8, IS. The top edge 45 may thenbe cut to a 45 angle by horizontal movement of the cutting tools, thismovement being the most natural for the workman.

Having described the invention, what we claim as new is:

1. A quick acting vise comprising an elongated body having a guideextending longitudinally on one side thereof, an apertured lug at oneend of the guide, a vise jaw slideably connected with the guide, a screwextending through the aperture in the lug, one end of the screw beingrotatably connected with the vise jaw, the screw being longitudinallyslideable in the lug, abutment means on the screw comprising a pluralityof juxtaposed members having upper and lower ears thereon, a pluralityof longitudinally spaced transversely extending abutment members alongfacing the screw for the selective abutment of an end of an upper ear,the ears being of such thickness and spacing that only one of said earsmay engage an abutment member on the guide in any particular position ofsaid vise jaw on said body, and an uninterrupted surface on the'guidebelow said abutment members against which a lower car may engage andslide therealong.

2. A quick acting vise comprising an elongated body having a guideextending longitudinally on one side thereof, an apertured lug at oneend of the guide, a vise jaw slideably connected with the guide, a screwextending through the aperture in the lug, one end of the screw beingrotatably connected with the vise jaw, the screw being longitudinallyslideable in the lug, abutment means comprising a pair of nutsthreadedly engaging the screwhaving upper and lower ears thereon, aplurality of longitudinally spaced transversely extending abutmentmembers along the side of the guide facing the screw for the selectiveabutment of an end of an upper ear, and

an uninterrupted surface on the guide below said abutment membersagainst which a lower car may engage and slide therealong.

3. A quick acting vise comprising anelongated body having a guideextending longitudinally on one side thereof, an apertured lug at oneend of the guide, a vise jaw slideably connectedjwith the guide, a screwextending through the aperture in the lug, one end of the screw beingrotatably connected with the vise jaw, the screw being longitudinallyslideable in the lug, abutment means comprising; at least one nutthreadedly engaging the screw having upper and lower ears thereon, atleast one plate member on the screw having upper and lower ears thereon,and means for retaining the plate member in spaced relation to the nut;a plurality of longitudinally spaced transversely extending abutment members along the side of the guide facing the screw for the selectiveabutment of an end of ian upper ear, and an uninterrupted surface on theguide below said abutment members against which a lower ear may engageand slide therealong.

4. A quick acting vise comprising an elongated body having a guideextending longitudinally on one side thereof, an apertured lug at oneend of the guide, a vise jaw slideably connected with the guide, a screwextending through the aperture in the lug, one end of the screw beingrotatably connected with the vise jaw, the screw'being lon- REFERENCESCITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED sTATEs PATENTS Number Name Date 990,186 Berg Apr. 18, 19111,015,336 Orlandi Jan. 23, 1912 1,125,329 Jack Jan. 19, 1915 1,596,169Follmer Aug. 17, 1926 2,437,351 Follmer et a1. Mar. 9, 1948 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 42,926 Switzerland Apr. 30, 1908

